PTET - godless culture

Iranian woman 'gives birth to frog'

BBC News - 27 June: "An Iranian newspaper has reported the controversial story of a woman who claims to have given birth to a frog... The Iranian daily Etemaad says the creature is believed to have grown from larva to an adult frog inside her body... While it is unclear how this could have happened, the paper carries quotes from medical experts who say there are human characteristics to the animal..."

This kind of story appeals to (non-Western?) Fundamentalists because it supposedly challenges (Western?) scientific orthodoxy. (Kudos to Rotten News for pointing out similarities to the 18th Century case of Mary Toft who supposedly gave birth to rabbits...)

Further thoughts here... Fundamentalists claim that "evolution" is an atheistic belief system because this allows them to portray it as a metanarrative - and just one explanation in a sea of possible explanations. Hence "Answers In Genesis" argue that "evolutionism" is just one "interpretation" of the evidence which they use to support Biblical Creationism... And "Dr Dino" ludicrously asserts that "evolutionism" can be proven only by proof that "God" could not have been involved in the creation of the Universe... Fundamentalists present "atheism" and "evolutionism" as two sides of the same coin - and build straw men of them as metanarratives which are supposedly unable to explain the existence of the Universe, life and morality.

This makes it all the more important to stress that support for evolution as a fact and a theory crosses many boundaries, religous and secular, and that "evolution" as science does not seek to answer the questions of the origins of life or of the Universe.

I have no doubt that these isses will come up in Darkstar218's next response in our ongoing discussion...